West Indies Women’s head coach, Shane Deitz has called on his players to be bold in their approach against Australia in the upcoming T20I series. The two teams will clash in the first of three matches at Arnos Vale in St Vincent on Thursday night, with the No.1 ranked Aussies the favourites to win the series.
Speaking after a training session on Monday night, Deitz said the Windies Women could not allow Australia to impose themselves on the game. “I’m looking forward to a good contest. Obviously, it’s the number one team in the world so it’s great to test yourself against the best to see where we’re at individually and collectively, so we’re really looking forward to the contest. …I think we will put on a good show. We’re looking to really attack the Aussies because they’ll come hard, so we’re going to match that intensity and come hard right back,” Deitz said.
It will be a tough challenge for the West Indies who sit at No.6 in the ICC rankings. They will look to rebound from their T20I and ODI series defeats to Sri Lanka earlier this month. In ten T20Is spanning three bilateral series between the two sides, the regional side has won just one match.
“We have to match that intensity and the aggression that the Aussies will come at us. We have to match that and we can’t be too complacent or too within ourselves. We have to express ourselves, show our skills and back ourselves against the very best…which we didn’t do very well against Sri Lanka, so we need to bounce back well and show everyone we’re a good side and that everyone can back us,” Deitz noted.
“This series is important because it’s a prep for the World Cup, which is in a few months’ time. We’ve got these three T20Is, then we have a Tri-series against Pakistan and Ireland in Ireland, so we have to maximise these opportunities, work out some good combinations, play some good cricket and get some confidence in our roles that we’re playing and different parts of the game.”
